Every election is a historic event one way or another, but the 2020 U.S. elections were unique. While the result is usually clear on the night of the election, this year millions of Americans voted early, either in person or by mail because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the delay in counting all the votes, the race for the White House between Donald Trump and Joe Biden remained unresolved for four days, and even after Joe Biden had become the projected winner, Donald Trump refused to concede, tweeted about alleged fraud, and declared to go to court.

The first event of the recently established Democracy Institute at Central European University will discuss the broader implications of the elections. The speakers, Stephen Holmes (New York University), Michael Ignatieff (CEU), David Runciman (Cambridge University) and Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University) will focus on how the outcomes might affect the evolution of democracy in the USA and worldwide.